SEARCH NEWS

Enter Keywords:

NEWS DETAILS

Photojournalist Zoriah Joins Symposium

Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2012

Award-winning photojournalist Zoriah Miller, commonly known as Zoriah, will join the ongoing dialogue of reconciliation with a workshop and a public talk, as part of the HWS Symposium on Genocide and Human Rights.

With a focus on his stunning photographic images and work in conflict, crisis and genocide situations, Zoriah will lead a workshop on Monday, Nov. 12. The workshop is limited to 25 people, and will take place a 3:30 p.m. in the Fisher Center in Demarest Hall. To secure a space in the workshop, contact Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski at dobkowski@hws.edu.

The following evening, Zoriah will address the community in a talk on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Geneva Room of the Warren Hunting Smith Library. The lecture will delve into his captivating work, exploring what it means to encapsulate the strife and emotion of people and places in crisis through images.

A documenter of wars, genocides, conflict and crisis, Zoriah has worked to convey the true horrors of human crises in developing countries. Zoriah's photographs have been published in countless magazines, journals and newspapers including the New York Times, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, NPR, Rolling Stone, The United Nations and Fortune.

Zoriah has worked as an embedded photojournalist for the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, as an embedded military photographer for the U.S. Marine Corps, and as a freelance news photographer for several news organizations. His work has garnered numerous awards including Top Photojournalist of All Time by Infinit Posterous, the Grand Prize in the 2009 PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards, and Photojournalist of the Year in 2006 by Morepraxis. Zoriah has held exhibitions in more than 40 locations internationally, and has lectured at universities and conferences throughout the world.

The talk is part of the Symposium on Genocide and Human Rights that this year continued to explore the theme of reconciliation, justice and witnessing.

"Last year, we heard from those who have worked to prevent genocide," explains Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski, who serves as chair of the symposium's steering committee. "However, this year, we consider a post-genocide world. How do we move on? How can we represent genocide that is not in the present - and how can we truly see it and learn? This year, we will learn from those trying to rebuild, to achieve justice and those seeking reconciliation - whether it is with their enemies or their own demons."

Through the symposium's incredible speakers such as Zoriah, Dobkowski hopes that each member of the community can take away something important to use in their own lives. "Many of our speakers describe horrible atrocities - and yet they have no hate, only love," remarks Dobkowski. "How can this be? How can we all learn to do the same?"